


The Best

by YanaWia_the_gay



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/F, Knight!Catra, Magicat!Catra, knights/princesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28866282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YanaWia_the_gay/pseuds/YanaWia_the_gay
Summary: Lady Glimmer of Brightmoon holds a contest to determine who her personal knight will be. An unlikely magicat enters the competition.Glitra Knights/Princess AU
Relationships: Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 50





	The Best

**Author's Note:**

> Blame [the lesbian magicat](https://the-lesbian-magicat.tumblr.com/) and [weird doughnut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/weirdoughnut) for this.

“I want the best knight.”

Lady Glimmer of Brightmoon says to the gathered crowd of armored figures arrayed before her. She’s walking up and down the line of knights, each standing at attention in the middafternon sun that spills into the courtyard.

“The bravest, the smartest, the most loyal.”

The words sound dry and rehearsed even to Glimmer’s own ears. As she makes it to the end of the row and spins around to walk back, she spares a glance to the parapet behind her. Her mother - and Queen - is standing there, watching silently.

“There will be a series of tests, each more challenging than the last.-” Glimmer continues, but a sound breaks through her royal monotone.

It sounds like laughing.

In a second, Glimmer is flushed in outrage and storming towards the source of the sound. It comes from the far back of the assembled knights and as she makes a furious path towards the fool who is mocking her, the armored figures before her part like a sea.

In the last row, on the far left, stands her target. A young magicat, probably no more than Glimmer’s age, is leaning against a column and dancing a dagger in her hands. There are no crests on her pauldrons, no banner behind her to show her lineage. She is dressed in dirty trousers and her wild mane of hair is as unkempt as the rest of her.

“Who are you to be so rude!?” Glimmer all put screams at the knight.

The magicat laughs in her face. It’s confident and full, like she’s paying no mind to the dozens of other knights and royalty she is mocking. There’s something off putting about her casual and crass aire that Glimmer can’t quite put her finger on.

“The person who’s going to win this little contest of yours.” The magicat responds. There’s murmurs of dissent and outrage throughout the rest of the crowd.

Glimmer raises an eyebrow and summons a scroll of the contestants before her without breaking eye contact. She scans through the document until she arrives at the position the magicat is standing in. _Catra._ No title, no lineage.

“And tell me _Catra_ , what makes a titleless knight deserve to be here?” Glimmer asks, disdain clear and evident in her voice.

Catra doesn’t even bat an eye when Glimmer mentions her name. She smoothly lifts off from the column and steps into Glimmer’s space. Glimmer does her best to ignore the extra two inches of height Catra has on her. Her eyes are gold and blue and look every bit as piercing and fiery as Glimmer’s own. The magicat slowly studies her up and down, and Glimmer feels herself recoil at the intrusive gaze.

“Because,” Catra finally says, low and sweet. “I’m the best.”

Glimmer reddens once again and she’s determined to believe that it’s from anger. She doesn’t back down from Catra’s threatening posture and huffs out a response.

“Fine, prove it.”

And she does. Catra wins her first match.

Glimmer is _sure_ it is a fluke - Catra was paired up against a little known knight from just outside of Thaymor. Her challenger wasn’t expected to win the tournament, but she hadn’t even broken a sweat when she downed him for the third and final time.

But then it kept happening, match after match would go Catra’s way - and not by a little. Her victories were swift and total, her flourishes graceful and piercing. She didn’t drop a single point the entire day - everything she did looked easy and effortless.

And after every single victory, she’d glance in Glimmer’s direction and shoot her a cocky smile or knowing wink.

“Insufferable” Glimmer mutters as she paces the parapet beside her mother, red faced and utterly infuriated. In anger, Glimmer starts paying even closer attention to her matches.

Catra has natural agility and practiced maneuvers, there’s no doubt about that - even if the origin of her training seems dubious. Her opponents are all as incensed as Glimmer is, and during each of her matches Glimmer overhears the insults that her rivals are throwing at her when they think the assembled royalty can’t hear. But Catra doesn’t break, she doesn’t even respond to them - she just wins.

It’s around this point that Glimmer finds herself rooting for Catra. The princess cheers quietly to herself each time she scores a hit and cringes inward each time it looks like Catra is about to drop a point.

When the magicat wins her next match and glances up towards the parapet, wink and smirk already in place, Glimmer decides to smirk back. In that gaze is a challenge, a threat, and a ‘ _you better win_.’ They hold each other’s gaze like that for all of a second, the ferocity in their eyes for them alone.

Her final match is against a heavy weight from Frightland. He’s in full plate and bearing a heavy blade that’s probably as tall as Catra. Glimmer has a spark of worry in her, but a glance toward Catra’s cool and confident demeanor reassures her.

The fight goes like every other. Catra darts and dodges past every blow, only delivering a strike when she is sure her rapier will connect. Each time her opponent goes to block one of her attacks, they always underestimate how fast she is or how accurate her strikes are. Every time it happens, Glimmer cackles quietly to herself in utter delight.

When the match is finally called, Glimmer doesn’t even wait for Catra’s gaze before she nearly runs down to the courtyard and the sand pit where Catra stands victoriously.

As she approaches, Catra is sheathing her blade, slowly and carefully. She fixes her hair back and wipes the sweat from her face before finally turning to Glimmer.

“Did you even try?” Glimmer says, hands on her hips and head tilted to the side.

Catra snorts and lets out a laugh. It’s high and raspy and totally different from the jeering one she used before. It almost sounds genuine to Glimmer’s ears. Catra steps in closer, and says, “For you, ya.”

Glimmer rolls her eyes but finds that it’s not a little fond, “Congratulations then.”

“Looks like I’m your knight, princess.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun and cute idea that I just wanted to spit out. I promise I'll post BB ch3 soon, hopefully in the next week.  
> In the mean time, let's hope I don't get distracted by any other ideas (looking at you doughnut 👀, jk)
> 
> Let me know what you thought. Kudos and comments are a great way to motivate me! 💖


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